A Slytherin Mind
by untitled1494
Summary: Arguably the most significant day in the life of Andromeda Black, recorded in her diary.


April fifteenth, 1962.

You know, Slytherins have never been well liked at Hogwarts. Maybe it was the story of Salazar Slytherin abandoning the other four founders of Hogwarts, or his secret chamber with the Basilisk. I don't believe we should be judged for our namesake. I think some of the hostility also stems from the biblical hatred of snakes. Well, that's just ridiculous. The snake embodied the devil in the Garden of Eden, snakes are bad for most gardens, snakes are _creepy_, they slither and hiss, and they're scary. So, now, anything associated with them is evil?

I see the belief of this common misconception as a serious weakness, and an inexcusable flaw. Snakes are majestic creatures, they're sneaky, and they get what they want.

The same is true for Slytherins. Despite the speculation that the Sorting Hat calls Slytherins ambitious for lack of a nicer term for ruthlessness, ambition is just the word. We know what we want, we get it. What we want doesn't necessarily have to be some evil goal like killing all puppies or eradicating the world of all love and happiness.

Another factor working against us is Shakespeare. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus' funeral speech is one of the most potently eloquent speeches ever recorded (aside, of course, from Marc Antony's), and what is it about? The tyranny of ambition. And no matter how often the readers of the play--thinking oh-so highly of themselves for reading Shakespeare--look at how mutable the plebians in the audience were, _"Oh, how gauche! They changed their minds" _they can never deny that they themselves were not moved by Brutus' lucidity, and thought a little less of us Slytherins. I would respect him so much if I didn't hate him for indirectly turning the whole world against us. Or Macbeth, poor guy wants to be king, and he got a little carried away. Sue him. Shakespeare....

I'm not saying ambition never reaches excessive. It does. I think Voldemort reached that point when he started killing. I mean, that's a little gratuitous. Still my mother fawns on his mastery, _"That man knows how to get things done!" _and I'm not to say a word against him.

I understand the prejudice against them, but I see no problem with sharing the world with Muggle-born wizards and Muggles. It's not like they're taking away our magic or something, they're not harming us. But again, if my mother ever heard that she would have my face burnt off the wall at Grimmauld Place. The old hag.

I still have pride in my house, obviously. It's the pride of my name, and centuries of magic. I sometimes think about the magic, the potency in my blood, and how the same blood once ran through some of the greatest most influential wizards and witches of the century, and that I, too, would accomplish something in this world. I also look great in green.

It is the pride of my house, and the pride of my name that caused my anger at the boy who spit at my feet today, calling me an "_exalted_ inbred bitch" with just that mocking on exalted asking me hex him into oblivion. I didn't though, I kept my cool, so as to prove just who was the bigger man. But just how is it that _I'M _the exalted one, if it was _he _who just spit on my feet, like an emperor with a peasant? The hypocrisy of it all made me sick to my stomach.

But to the point of these narrations, it was these thoughts, and it was this incident that led to my meeting Ted Tonks.

He was a Hufflepuff muggle-born, who, passing, I expected to laugh at this mistreatment, like the other muggle-borns passing by. He however, stopped in front of me and frowned at me.

"Hello?" I said, questioning his presence, while _scourgify_ing my shoes.

"Aren't you going to hex him or something?"

"No."

"Well why not? I would." I didn't care.

"It's too bad you don't have the chance." He looked suddenly affronted.

"Well, us _mudbloods _are derided as well, you know." I still didn't care.

"Am I responsible for righting this injustice? Have I ever derided you? No."

"Your sister has."

"Don't take it so personally."

"She called me a cur."

"I'll be sure to bring it up to her." The irony dripping from my voice, I figured he'd take a hint, and leave.

"Well, I've got to go, now," Thank Merlin. "I'll see you around...?"

"Andy."

"Ted. Right, bye."

"Bye." I was surprised at the polite exit, but I thought nothing of it.

We slytherins get all this crap for being evil and ambitious and yet we're not the ones walking around saying things like "exalted inbred bitch". Ravenclaws.

I think, today, I thought a little more highly of Muggle-borns. Tonks was cordial, despite my condescension, and I have this feeling in my gut, like I've just met a new friend. Someone important.

Bloody hell, I'm tired. I'll wrap this entry up.

Narcissa is angry because Slughorn shows no preference for her as he does Bella. Bellatrix announced her ambition to become a Death Eater, and even though part of me is sure it's all talk, a larger, more hidden part is terrified that it will certainly happen. There would be nothing I could ever do to stop her. Homework as usual.

That's really all for today, I'm about to collapse.


End file.
